Strange is Love
by protagonist-m
Summary: Thirteen 100-word drabbles featuring various pairings (both canon and non) that explore just how strange love can be.


**Author's Note: Hey guys! This is my first (submitted) work here on , but constructive criticism is appreciated! That said, this is a pretty short piece of writing, so I don't know how much there actually is to poke at. Lyrics are from "Strange Love" by Little Annie. These drabbles play around with some of the more popular pairings, and then ones I've never seen used before, with mixed results. I'll put in a warning: there is mention of incest, but only extremely briefly. Also violence. And gratuitous mentions of sex. Finally, let me say that there are brief mentions of Legend of Korra in here, but not enough that it seemed necessary to place this in the Crossover/LoK category. I dunno. Thoughts? Anyway, hope you enjoy!**_  
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_**Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender or The Legend of Korra. Although that would be stupendous.**_

_Once I had a strange love, a mad sort of insane love, a love so fast and fierce I thought I'd die…_

He tastes like the cinnamon wheat he holds between his teeth, and Zuko notes that there is something addictive about the spicy flavor of his mouth. The deck of the boat is cold but Jet's breath is so so warm against his neck, collarbone, pelvis, that the banished prince finds it hard to care.

"We'll make them pay for what they did to you," Jet vows solemnly as they pull their discarded clothing back over sated skin. He grazes his fingertips lightly across Zuko's scar, at ease while the prince waits to disappear into a city of walls and secrets.

* * *

_Yes once I had a strange love, a pure but very pained love, a love that burned like fire through a field…_

Initially, Katara thinks Aang is a perfect match for her because he will forgive her anything. Even, it seems, the darkness that taints her sometimes, like ash on snow.

One night, in the limited light of a tavern, celebration and stronger drink than she's used to give her an excuse to dispel some of the boredom, the neglect she's felt from her (still and always) too young lover. Skin covered in another's sticky kisses, she wonders if forays into darkness are always so forgivable.

The tavern burns and she calls frantically for the enraged, glowing boy, and has her answer.

* * *

_Oh once I had a strange love, a childlike but deranged love, a love that if were bottled it would kill…_

Being at the palace—home—is strange. Zuko is congratulated for slaying the Avatar, pampered and fawned over in a way he never was before. Azula smiles poisonously.

One night, she comes to him, off-kilter, and he yields to her vulnerability. She speaks of people who aren't there and wraps herself around him.

And perhaps there's too much disparity between who they were as children and who they are now, and so they revert to their old intimacy in a way that's completely new to them. A clash of bodies instead of toy swords.

She's never there when Zuko wakes.

* * *

_See once I had a strange love, a secret and untamed love, a love that took no prisoners at all…_

The Yon Rha encounter teaches them that they work well together. Hunt well together.

Buying food for the rest of the group, they encounter a man beating a child. They hardly have to consult to know that nightfall will bring his demise.

Animal and child abusers. Rapists. Murderers from rich enough families to walk free.

Sometimes afterwards, Katara's hands will shake with adrenal rage, and Zuko clasps them in his own.

Sometimes afterwards, Zuko's chest will heave in guilt and satisfaction, and Katara holds him until dawn.

Over the gurgling of blood in a dying man's throat, Zuko kisses her.

* * *

_And once I had a strange love, a psychic unexplained love, a love that challenged scientific facts…_

When she wants him to ravish her, he complies. When she wants to take it slow, his tongue running up her muscular inner thigh, he happily agrees.

Physical pleasure, Aang informed her early on, isn't something he can feel anymore. He can only indulge in sight and sound. Her warm skin, brown and flushed, her screams of pleasure, breathier than her actual voice, are what he takes away from each encounter.

She, on the other hand, leaves with drenched underwear and the aftershocks of orgasm.

Katara notes that her pupil seems much more focused on meditation these days. Korra blushes.

* * *

_And then there was that strange love, that very badly trained love, a love that needed discipline and facts…_

Ty Lee is very bouncy. Sokka appreciates this.

One summer, she bounces directly into him (finally, he thinks) and sends them crashing to the ground.

And she isn't loyal to only her people and the gods, like Yue was.

And she isn't combative and possessive, like Suki was.

"You're always so completely yourself," he tells her, tracing her lips with his own. "I could never mistake you for someone else."

Meeting her sisters a month later, he proves it.

That night, they lay beneath the stars, giggling at their own horrible jokes.

"I love you," he says (finally, she thinks).

* * *

_Once I had a strange love, a publicly acclaimed love, the kind of love that's seen in magazines…_

She always feels glamorous when they ride through the city in the royal palanquin.

People ask her to sign things now—scrolls depicting the royal couple, class photos from their shared days at the Academy.

Zuko is busy almost always, but when he's there, he's attentive, completely at her beck and call.

And maybe it was her childhood of privileged neglect that did it to her, but Mai loves every moment of attention she receives. She smiles more, waves freely to her subjects.

Then she starts throwing up in the mornings, and realizes she'll never be in the spotlight again.

* * *

_And once I had a strange love, a beautiful but vain love, a love I think is better left in dreams…_

Being with Tahno is like being with a flame in a room full of moths, Korra decides.

"Hope you enjoy the next match," he drawls to the girls who approach them during dinner.

After their meal's paid for (at a discount—the owner is a big Wolfbats fan), they make their way to a park, where, unsurprisingly, more Tahno supporters lurk.

After their billionth encounter, Korra says, "Alright, special guy. I want to go home now."

Tahno's cocky smile fades, but he complies, waving down a Satomobile.

"So…not impressed?" he asks.

Korra nods solemnly, but lets him kiss her anyway.

* * *

_And once I had a strange love, a morally inflamed love, we'd go on holy battles in the night…_

The young general speaks of honor, and Asami listens, rapt as a child.

She tells him about her father and his betrayal. She tells him about her mother, and cries.

Iroh says, "I've seen the sunset on the rooftops of Ba Sing Se. I've seen the Air Temples and the moon on northern ice. I've even seen the rainbow flames of dragons. But, Asami Sato, _you_ are what makes me sure that beauty exists in this world."

Elsewhere, Mako holds Korra as they sleep.

So when Iroh asks if Asami wants to join him, she doesn't hesitate to say yes.

* * *

_And then there was that strange love, that vulgar and profane love, the kind of love that we don't talk about…_

Upon leaving the asylum, Azula has mandatory therapy. It's here that she finally admits she's always felt jagged and incongruent. The man assigned to her nods and writes this down, but says nothing.

The visiting waterbender is raw from a recent breakup, desperate for consoling. Zuko, running a nation, is regrettably unable to tend to his friend.

So it falls to the (slowly, slowly) healing princess. Azula listens, sympathizes, comforts. One night, she leans in and in and in.

Later, Katara kisses her neck with absurd tenderness. Astoundingly, Azula finally feels all her jagged edges melting, like ice into water.

* * *

_Yes, once I had a strange love, a lying infidel love, who wove in stories like Sherazade…_

Hiding in a compartment she had quickly bent into the wall, Toph waits and listens as she always has.

"I just need to have a little guy time, okay? It's not a personal thing," Sokka explains, heart racing.

Suki makes a strangled noise.

"_All _your time has been 'guy time' lately! Sokka, I need more from you!" The strain of tears in the warrior's voice. "Don't you get that, after seven years?"

A door slams. Footsteps retreat down the hall. Toph bends herself out of the wall.

"How could she be so…blind?" she queries, Sokka's hands already on her skin.

* * *

_And once I had a strange love, a flaky white kinky love, we ran so fast we almost spilled our guts…_

"I would die for you," she tells him on their wedding night. "Kill for you, even."

"I'm counting on it," he says, but with a smile.

His face, young and unlined, is that which she revolves around.

Ursa announces her pregnancy, and the prince sweeps her up, though gently, grin boyish and proud.

In the coming months, she finds that the revolution of her world is based around something new.

On the day of Zuko's birth, Ursa whispers to her infant son, "I would die for you."

Ozai tries not to feel hatred for the creature that's stolen Ursa's devotion.

* * *

_You see I've had some strange love, some good, some bad, some plain love, some so-so love, so what? And c'est la vie__…_

After his son's death, Iroh considers how to repent for his sins against the world. For every act of violence and ill will, he decides he will commit an act of love and compassion. Balance will be his mantra.

But, being Iroh, these are still acts of the flesh.

He learns that Fire Nation women prefer actions to words.

He learns that Earth Kingdom ladies require opulence and a profession of love to fully enjoy themselves.

He even learns that Water Tribe women, so used to wrapping themselves in layers, shed their clothes very quickly.

He learns love is universal.

_But just let me proclaim, love, that out of all the strange love, you're the strangest love I've ever known._


End file.
